Gramp was an extraordinarily brave and hard-working man. In
1925, he jumped ship in Baltimore Harbor off a Russian freighter
to which he was consigned at the age of 17. Later, he made his way
to New Jersey where he started a contracting company and raised a
family. At the age of 35, when World War II broke out, he enlisted
in the U.S. Navy.

By the early 1950’s, he and his brothers owned four hotels on Miami
Beach; but in the summer of 2000, he died penniless in a South Florida
nursing home. In only a few short years, our family had spent all
of his significant savings, taking care of him and maintaining his
long-term care needs.

Gramp was a craftsman and he firmly believed in using the right tool for
the right job. His old wooden tool kit was a world of wonder for
his grandchildren. He never tired of explaining to us how each of the
various tools worked and how each was best utilized.

If only Gramp had known before his illness that there was another kind
of tool kit which needed to be assembled, a tool kit as important to his
success as the old wooden one—a financial tool kit.
Gramp was like most of us. He knew he needed to prepare for future
needs and plan for adversity. He had much of his financial tool
kit filled with stocks and bonds, investment properties and an
up-to-date will. However, he realized too late that there was a
staggering price to himself and his family for neglecting to prepare an
appropriate long-term care program.

I have spent much of the last 14 years, since the founding of
caregiver.com, working to ensure
that other caregiving families are not faced with financial ruin due to
the increasing cost of caring for their loved ones, and that each
caregiver's financial tool kit includes considering the option of
long-term care coverage.

Caregivers understand what steps are needed to safeguard their loved
one’s physical and emotional health. We must now become adept at
learning the steps needed to ensure our family’s fiscal health.
The lesson taught by the preceding generation and the one we must pass
on to generations to come is that the tool kits you carefully assemble
during your lifetime must include all instruments of preparedness to
meet any situation.